The present invention relates to a device for electrically contacting a printed circuit board with an electronic card, especially an IC-memory card, that has contacting poles along one of its sides. The printed circuit board has a housing, comprising a bottom portion and a lid portion and being mounted to the printed circuit board. The electronic card is inserted into the housing, that encloses the electronic card completely in a contacted state thereof, with the contacting poles being inserted first, via an introduction slot provided at a face of the housing. The electronic card is pivotable into a locking position in which contacting of the contacting springs of the housing is achieved, with the contacting springs being arranged opposite the insertion slot in a manner corresponding to an arrangement of the contacting poles of the electronic card, and with the contacting poles, after inserting and before pivoting the electronic card, being without electric contact with the contacting springs.
In the office and data technology and in the computer area etc., so-called IC-memory card are employed. Specific data are saved on those electronic cards which may be processed via a compatible computer system. For this purpose, the IC-memory card is connected to the computer system in order to permit a respective data transfer.
A contacting device for a chip card of the aforementioned kind has been known from DE-OS 35 31 18. This contacting device comprises essentially a parallelepipedal housing having a bottom portion and a lid portion parallel therewith. The face of the housing is provided with an insertion slot for inserting the electronic card to be contacted. Inside the housing, a counterpoise is arranged which extends essentially in the center along the longitudinal direction of the housing and is pivotable about a horizontal axis of rotation. In its initial state, the counterpoise is disposed directly behind the insertion slot so that the inserted electronic card rests on the counterpoise while the contacting poles of the inserted electronic card are not yet in electric contact with the contacting elements of the housing. For the purpose of contacting the counterpoise must be pivoted about its axis of rotation thereby achieving electric contact. At the same time, the counterpoise is locked to the housing.
In this known contacting device for a chip card, it is disadvantageous that, for receiving the electronic card inside the housing, a pivotable counterpoise device is provided. In order to insert the electronic card into the housing, it must be ascertained at all times that the counterpoise is resting directly behind the insertion slot so that a respective device between the counterpoise and the housing must be provided. Furthermore, the arrangement of a pivotable counterpoise inside the housing is technically demanding. Also, due to the positioning of the electronic card in a counterpoise-like fashion inside the housing, this arrangement is potentially instable. This is especially the case when, after a long operation time, the pivot bearing of the counterpoise shows signs of wear and a correct contacting may no longer be achieved. Wear of the pivot bearing may occur, for example, when the electronic card has been inserted and pivoted too hard or too forceful.
Form U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,120 a device for electrically contacting a printed circuit board with an electronic card, that has contacting poles along one of its sides, has been known. The printed circuit board is provided with a one-piece plastic housing. Inside the housing contacting springs are arranged in a row after one another. They correspond to the contacting poles of the electronic card to be inserted. These contacting springs are equipped with contacting pins which are contacted with respective leads on the printed circuit board. Into this housing the electronic card is inserted with "zero force", whereby the contacting poles are inserted first ("zero force" in this context means, that there is no force or only little force required). After the insertion of the electronic card into the housing is completed, the electronic card is pivoted into a locking position and is thus arranged in a fixed position inside the housing, which is equipped with lateral abutting slants for this purpose.
It is disadvantageous in this known device that the electronic card must be inserted into the housing in a slanted manner whereby no predetermined insertion angle is provided by the given design. This means, that it is easily possible for the user of the device to insert the electronic card into the housing such that canting occurs which may cause damage to the contacting springs. Furthermore, when the electronic card is inserted without providing the correct angle, an insertion with "zero force" is impossible. It is also disadvantageous, that the upper end of the electronic card, in its contacting state, extends past the housing, so that the electronic card may be pushed accidentally, or when mishandled, out of the predetermined contacting position resulting in the system malfunctioning.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device for electrically contacting a printed circuit board with an electronic card, especially an IC-memory card, of the aforementioned kind, in which the insertion of the electronic card into the housing is facilitated and the locking into a fixed position of the electronic card inside the housing after contacting is improved.